The present invention relates generally to the programming of cellular telephones. More particularly, the present invention relates to the automated programming of a cellular telephone.
Cellular telephones are becoming increasingly popular. In the past, the sale of cellular telephones was limited to specialized cellular telephone dealers. Today, due to the increased popularity of cellular telephones, such telephones may be purchased from a variety of retailers, including electronic specialty stores, electronic chain stores, department stores, and cellular service provider retail outlets. Upon the purchase of a cellular telephone, the telephone must be activated before it can be used with a particular cellular service provider in a geographic location. Such activation generally requires the programming (i.e. storing) of activation parameters into the memory of the cellular telephone.
The cellular telephone memory which stores the activation parameters is called a Number Assignment Module (NAM), and the data which is stored in the NAM is called NAM parameters. Such NAM parameters include the telephone number associated with the cellular telephone and an identification of the cellular service provider which will provide the cellular telephone service associated with that telephone. There are other NAM parameters which must be programmed in order to activate the telephone. These parameters will be discussed in more detail below in the detailed description.
The programming of NAM parameters is a time consuming and error prone process. Each manufacturer""s telephone(s) has different programming requirements and procedures. As a result, point-of-sale personnel must have access to large amounts of programming reference material for each of the different types of phones. The actual programming is generally done through the cellular telephone keypad. The first step in the programming is to enter a programming code into the keypad which will instruct the telephone to enter a programming mode. Once in the programming mode, each of the NAM parameters is entered through the keypad. Such keypad programming is prone to errors and a small mistake in programming renders the phone unusable until correctly programmed.
The complexity of NAM parameter programming has made the sale of cellular telephones less profitable for retail stores which do not specialize in such sales, because point of sale personnel must be trained to program the cellular telephones. In addition to the training expense, such sales personnel must dedicate a substantial amount of time in programming the phones, time which could be otherwise spent with customers in the sale of new phones. In addition, programming by inexperienced sales personnel often results in an incorrectly programmed telephone. In many instances, such incorrect programming is not discovered until the customer has left the store and has attempted to use the telephone. As a result, the customer must return to the store to have the phone reprogrammed. This results in both more time required by sales personnel, and reduced customer satisfaction.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,386,455 entitled System and Method for Automatic Activation of Cellular Telephones discloses a system for programming NAM parameters in a cellular telephone. In accordance with the technique described therein, a local computer is connected to both a cellular telephone and an authorizing computer of a selected cellular carrier. User information, such as credit information, is manually entered into the local computer. The local computer interrogates the cellular telephone to determine certain data stored in the cellular telephone. The user information and cellular telephone data is sent to the authorizing computer of the selected cellular carrier via a modem. Upon approval by the local carrier, the authorizing computer sends to the local computer the data required for programming the cellular telephone. Upon receipt of the data, the local computer programs the cellular telephone with the received data. Thus, in accordance with this technique, the activation data to be stored in the cellular telephone is not stored or computed locally in the local computer, but is stored at a remote authorizing computer, and the data must be transferred from the remote authorizing computer to the local computer prior to programming the cellular telephone. In addition, there is no disclosure of user interaction with the programming function apart from the entering of user information.
UK Patent Application GB 2256113-A, entitled xe2x80x9cProgramming A Cellular Radio. Telephonexe2x80x9d also discloses a system and method for programming activation data into a cellular telephone. The system includes a remote computer which is coupled to an acoustic converting device (e.g. an acoustic coupler) thus providing communication between the cellular telephone and the remote computer. The preferred embodiment shows the link between the computer and the acoustic converting device being a network (i.e. telephone network). In operation, the computer ascertains the type, serial number, and other basic data from the telephone, and using this data, selects the appropriate set-up data for the telephone from a stored table. The data is then sent to the mobile telephone via the link and the acoustic converting device. There is no interactive communication between a user and the remote computer which controls the programming.
In accordance with the present invention, a method and apparatus for storing activation parameters in a cellular telephone is provided. A cellular telephone to be programmed is connected to a local computer. The computer includes a user input device which allows a user to input programming information, including the cellular telephone type, to the computer. Upon the receipt of the user programming information, a visual representation of the user inputted cellular telephone type is displayed on a display screen to allow the user to interactively verify the inputted programming information. Upon user verification of the programming information, the computer determines appropriate activation parameters based on the inputted programming information, and transmits the activation parameters to the telephone for storage in the cellular telephone memory.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, certain activation parameters are, neither stored in the computer memory, nor are they supplied by the user, but instead they are computed dynamically by the computer based on the user inputted programming information. In one embodiment, the user inputted programming information includes a cellular telephone number to be assigned to the telephone. The computer retrieves from memory a stored system identification which is associated with the area code and prefix of the user inputted cellular telephone number. Certain activation parameters are dynamically computed based on the cellular telephone number and the system identification.
Thus, in accordance with the present invention, a method and apparatus for programming a cellular telephone is provided with a level of user interaction which provides advantages over the prior systems. The user may interactively verify inputted programming information prior to an attempt to store activation parameters in the cellular telephone. In addition, computer memory requirements are reduced by dynamically computing certain activation parameters, thus saving the memory space which otherwise would be taken up by stored activation parameters. These advantages are provided in a method and apparatus which may be implemented on a computer system which is local to the cellular telephone programming location.
These and other advantages of the invention will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art by reference to the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings.